Han
Han was one of the original colonies of Earth, one of the Inner Colonies of the Galactic Commonwealth, and the capital world of the Gemini Sector. Geography and Climate Han is known to have possessed two large continental landmasses, one of which covered an entire hemisphere. Its climate was temperate, cold in the polar regions ranging to sub-tropical near the equator. Its sun was an older star, with a strong skew toward the red-orange part of the spectrum. The sky was known to have a red tint and red and purple vegetation was common on the surface. History and Culture Han was discovered in the late 22nd Century by the Lunar Telescopic Array on Earth’s moon. It was surveyed by an uninhabited survey ship in the early 23rd Century, and by the mid-23rd Century the first colonists arrived. The development of Han had been thoroughly planned before the first colony ship left Earth orbit, down to the location and layout of cities and their pre-determined population targets. Han was populated rapidly under a Government policy known as the One Hundred Million Program; an ambitious effort to move 100,000,000 people from Earth to Han in a single century. According to the plan, Han became heavily industrialized, and was a center for large scale manufacturing. Starships, colony pods, terra-forming units, drive engines, heavy machinery were among the tens of thousands of products produced in Han’s manufacturing centers; although the primary focus was common supplies for other colonies; tools, devices, appliances, and household goods. Until the late 26th Century, Han was directly administered from an Earth-based government. At that time, the colonial leaders renegotiated their arrangement with their masters on Earth, and authority over the colony was passed from the National Government to the Galactic Federation; although the colony was still supervised by the Government of the Nation that had settled the world. In the 29th Century, many of the secondary colonies began rebelling against the Inner Colonies. In the Gemini Sector, New Dawn and Han combined forces to crush the rebellion utterly, destroying the planets of Li Shen Major and Li Shen Minor, killing millions of people. Their Governments issued a joint declaration, thousands of words long, that reached the conclusion that their exercise of power was extreme but necessary to “preserve the social, political, and economic cohesion of human civilization throughout the galaxy.” The Galactic Federation Government on Earth did not agree, and the Futura Accords were rushed into place to prevent further tragedies. The Governments of Han and New Dawn responded that the advancement of the Futura Accords proved the success of their assault. When the Galactic Commonwealth replaced the Galactic Federation in the 30th Century, Han was given a greater measure of autonomy and administrative control over the Gemini Sector. An entire city, called Star City, was built on one of the planet’s vast plains as an administrative center for the Sector. Han exercised rigid authority over the worlds in its sector, which were bound to the planet by a common culture and history. A Fleet was constructed, the Armada of Han, to ensure security and stability across the worlds in the Han Sector. In the 30th Century, the worlds of New Dawn and Han began calling in the debts on their loans to the Government of Earth. The Terran Dictator X. Caliber Prime renounced the debts, spawning one of the initial conflicts of the Second Crusade. The Terran Fleet was dispatched to Han, met and defeated the Han Armada inside the Han system. Han discreetly supported the Red Committee during the Third Crusade, not out of allegiance, but out of an intention of keeping the other powers of the galaxy weakened while it rebuilt its forces. In the Fourth Crusade, the Scorpion Empire quickly conquered some of the outer colonies if the Gemini Sector. The Second Han Armada was a good deal larger and more capable than the first, and it engaged the Scorpion Fleet in battles throughout its sector. In the 33rd Century, the Cult of the Strange tried to establish a presence on Han and several of the colonies in the Gemini Sector. They were hunted down and destroyed to prevent the contamination of Han’s culture. This inadvertently aided The Strange in setting up shop on other worlds, as they were able to cite the Han massacres as evidence of persecution. The Strange made occasional attempts to establish themselves in the Gemini Sector throughout the Fifth Crusade but were invariably repulsed. In the 34th Century, Han came into conflict with its Sister Inner Colony, New Dawn. No longer content to be the junior partner and supporter of the sister world, its Government abrogated its ancient treaties of mutual assistance and cooperation. While the conflict did not escalate into full-scale war between the Cancer and Gemini Sectors, several low-grade conflicts occurred on their worlds as each side encouraged insurrections against the other. At the beginning of the 35th Century, Han began a decline brought about by environmental collapse. Industrial pollution had damaged the planet’s soil and atmosphere. There were widespread crop failures. Large numbers were evacuated to other worlds to ease the strain on the Ecosystem. Terraforming units were built and activated in an attempt to clean the planet and repair the damage. In the 36th Century, Han cut itself off from the rest of the galaxy in an effort to isolate itself from conflict. Having always been a secular world, it considered itself exempted from the anti-religious conflicts elsewhere, and was pleased to supply those forces with weapons and supplies so long as it was left alone. This trade was conducted through the other worlds in its sector as Han remained a closed world. In the 38th Century, a powerful being calling herself She of Sixty Billion Names arrived on Han and roused the people to veneration by repairing the planet’s ecosystem and clearing its smoky skies. The population was reluctant to accept her at first, but she also possessed the ability to bend minds to her will. Before long, she had most of the planet enslaved to her will, and though a few were immune, few of them had any notion of resisting her. In the Millennium of Peace, Han rebuilt much of its industrial base and once again began exporting finished industrial good to the other worlds of the Gemini Sector. It had achieved a sort of equilibrium that carried it through the Millennium and provided an acceptable standard of living for its people. A Starlock was built near Han in the 45th Century and was christened Cherrystone. Han was annihilated by the Tarmigan Assault in the 53rd Solar Century. Cities *Han Capital *Two Mountains City *City on the Sea *Riverside City *Water City Source: Professor Wild Bill Keeler’s Pop-Up, Scratch and Sniff Illustrated Guide to the Old Commonwealth Category:Worlds